Introduction

The Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd was established
in the year 1964 by collecting raw milk from 19 primary co-operative milk societies
and supplying it unprocessed to Ahmedabad Municipal Dairy. Municipal Dairy being
a consumer oriented dairy it could not accept more quantity of milk during flush
season and this had forced the Union to rotationally stop the milk collection from
societies during flush season. The milk union could not expand its activities for
the first seven years due to inadequate financial resources. In the year 1971 under
Operation Flood-I Programme me of Indian Dairy Corporation (a Government of India
undertaking) a dairy project was sanctioned for handling 1.50 lakh liters of milk
per day. The total cost of the dairy plant was Rs.2.52 crore, which was received
from the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation through the Government of Gujarat.

In the year 1971 under Operation Flood-I programme of Indian Dairy Corporation;
a dairy project was sanctioned for handling 1.50 lakh liters of milk per day. The
foundation stone of Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd
was laid by Dr. Verghese Kurien, Chairman,National Dairy Development Board
on June 11, 1971. The reception and pasteurization of milk was started on May 12,
1973 and condensing and spray drying plant was commissioned in the year 1974. Under
Operation Flood-II programme the dairy plant was expanded to handle 4.00 lakh liters
of milk per day.

The 1st chilling center of the Union was established near Dhansura with the financial
assistance received from Small Farmers Development Agency. The chilling center
was commissioned in October, 1976. The milk processing capacity of this chilling
center was 30,000 liters of milk per day.

The 2nd chilling centre of the Union was established at Khedbrahma; one of the four
tribal talukas. The other three are Meghraj, Vijaynagar & Bhiloda. The chilling
centre was inaugurated by her excellency the Governor of Gujarat State Smt Sharada
Mukherjee in March 1979. In October, 1976. The initial milk processing capacity
of this chilling center was 25,000 liters of milk per day.

The 3rd chilling centers of the Union was established at Shamlaji, another tribal
dominated area The milk processing capacity of this chilling centers was 25,000
liters of milk per day. The milk collection from Bhiloda and Meghraj talukas was
processed at this new chilling center. The milk processing capacity of these two
chilling centers was further expanded with the financial support from the State
Government.

Besides the above three milk chilling centers the Union presently operates three
other milk chilling centers at places like Bayad, Prantij and Idar to cover all
the milk collected from the entire district. Besides these milk chilling centers,
the Union also got installed Bulk Milk Cooling Units (BMCUs) in large numbers to
keep the sour percentage of milk to "zero" level.